June 5th, 2012
NewsRescue- The Nigerian media has been pointing blame on the Nigerian first-lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan as being responsible for the deadly crash of Dana MD-83 aircraft that claimed the lives of 163+ people.
According to the reports, the first-lady was scheduled to depart from Lagos that sad afternoon and due to this the Lagos airport was shut down for over 2 hours.
The airport shut down was alleged to have disallowed it respond to the distress call by the airplane, leading to the accident.
We at NewsRescue are only able to confirm that flights landing were unable to land for over 20 minutes and passengers were told they had to wait for a plane to land. It is possible that the distressed plane was the reason for the clearance to land delay.
We also have verified information that an Aero contractor flight to Lagos, scheduled for 3.40pm was delayed take-off. This could also be due to reports of the stranded plane or its accident and not due to the presidents wife.
The government also released her itinerary as flying in on Saturday the 2nd and leaving on Monday the 4th, at 1.15pm, after her husband had arrived Lagos to view the crash site. This does not rule out the possibility of the airport being closed for her departure Sunday, and when the accident occurred her re-scheduling her flight.
It also creates reactions from Nigerians on why she left Monday and unlike her accompanying the president in campaigns, did not stay to accompany his visit to the crash site.
We will be confirming the truth of the incident as we get verifiable information.
On ChannelsTv Nigeria’s first-lady denied the proportioning of blame strongly:
In a press statement signed by Ayo Osinlu, the Special assistant to the President, office of the First Lady, the presidency said:
“Our attention has been drawn to the orchestrated plan to politicize the Sunday Dana Air crash in Lagos in which many people lost their lives, through rumours about the possible cause of the accident citing VIP movement involving the wife of the President.
“We consider it callous, inhuman and devilish for anyone to have thought of wrapping such national calamity in political garb by insinuating that the plane crashed because the airspace was closed for the First Lady’s movement in Lagos.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the First Lady arrived Lagos at about 2pm on Saturday, 2nd June, 2012 for a private engagement and was billed to leave for Abuja on Monday, 4th June, 2012.
“In compliance with her itinerary, the First Lady arrived Lagos on Saturday. She was at a public event on Sunday when the accident occurred and promptly abandoned the ceremony as a mark of respect for the victims and retired to the State House, Marina. She left Lagos at exactly 13.15hrs on Monday, 4th June, 2012, according to schedule.
“It is therefore surprising that some mischievous persons will see this moment of National mourning as an opportunity to blackmail and impugn the First Lady’s integrity.
“This is the time for all Nigerians to be sober and pray for the repose of the souls of the victims and not a time to subordinate the interests of our nation to narrow self-serving interests,” the statement reads.
The statement said that “Mrs Jonathan had no intention to travel on Sunday and never did. Like all Nigerians, she has been mourning the dead.”
We do know that these things do happen in Africa. In 2009 NewsRescue media exclusively carried the shameful story of the closure of Ghana’s only international airport, Kotoka, when the United States president, Barack Obama visited.
The airport was shut for an entire 24 hours.
View story: Obama’s second visit to Africa; Ghana only International Airport Shut down for Obama
Indeed these insane things do happen on a regular basis. A member of Nigeria Village Square, commented in respect to the Obama Ghana airport shutdown:
I think the security perimeter for the two Airforce One jets ,7 C130 jets took up all the space at the charlie airport.
My flight from Lagos to Abuja hovered above Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in Abuja close to 90 minutes and almost returned to Lagos, reason- Obasanjo was on his way to the airport to shake hands and throw back a few before boarding his jet to go to collect a chieftaincy title from North Korea
It is clear that the recklessness and insolence of the Indian run Dana airline is very much to blame for this murder of innocent Nigerians.
It has been reported that company top officials have since fled for India.
The Nigerian government has moved ahead to seize the companies operational license pending a full investigation.
The Nigerian Aviation authorities headed by a very ‘vain’ Aviation Minister, Mrs Stella Oduah is also highly culpable in this crime by carelessness and negligence to duties and commitments to security and proper operational clearance protocol.
It was reported that passengers who flew the same plane earlier had a rough landing in which compartments of the plane fell apart and wires dangled in the interior of the craft.
A passenger who flew the doomed aircraft to Abuja that morning reported seeing aeronautic engineers with headphones listening to the plane controls shortly before embarking.
Read our report on the case of the unworthy airline that flew the Nigerian skies: Carelessness, Recklessness and Insolence of Indian-owned Dana Air blamed for Nigeria Crash